Dear Lifehacker,
I'm planning my vacation and want to make sure I pick a good neighborhood to stay in. The last hotel I stayed at was decent, but the neighborhood was really boring. Is there an easy and quick way to scope out a neighborhood? I'd also like to find the best bars, restaurants, and other places to hit while I'm there.

Signed,
Seeking the Right Scene

Dear Seeking,
Love the question! Not only does it apply to travelers like yourself, but also homebuyers and renters looking for the perfect place to call home. You might know a little or a lot about the city you're going to, but not so much the fine distinctions between the city's neighborhoods—and those small details can make a big difference in the success of your trip or move.

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Thankfully, the internet is here to help you, with a ton of tools and advice to help you decide where to go.

Consult Local City Guides and User Reviews

You can learn a lot about a place from the many people who are eager to share their good and bad local experiences online. Get an even bigger picture by supplementing that personal advice with neighborhood information from city guides.

What the locals and experienced travelers are saying about a neighborhood

StreetAdvisor is a site dedicated solely to reviews of neighborhoods, down to the street even. Member rate neighborhoods, which move them up and down in the rankings, and ask and answer questions like "Where are the upscale neighborhoods in Manhattan" and "What are the best parks for kids in the West Village." You can search for a neighborhood and filter it by the kinds of people who live there (e.g., professionals, students, families) and many other criteria. The site is targeted mostly for homebuyers or renters, but you can use it to quickly see what others think are the best neighborhoods in the city you're going to travel to.

Web site StreetAdvisor is a user-generated review site that rates streets by their overall feel,…
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For travel advice specifically, refer to the uber-useful TripAdvisor, which is chock full of user reviews for hotels, restaurants, things to do and more for any given city. Search for a hotel in your destination city to find myriad reviews commenting on the quality of the neighborhood and how close you'll be to local attractions and amenities. If you don't want to wade through user reviews, though, TripAdvisor offers articles with insider tips for thousands of destinations, including an overview of all the neighborhoods (click on the city name when you search for it to get to the traveler articles, then "Before You Go" to find the neighborhood overview. Downloadable TripAdvisor travel guides also cover where to eat, stay, and play). For Washington, DC, for example, TripAdvisor offers this helpful description of the Adams Morgan area:

Adams Morgan is a hip neighborhood in NW DC. It's centered around the intersection at Columbia Rd. and 18th St NW. A lovely neighborhood filled with vibrant artwork and a diverse population. Home to a row of popular bars and clubs, Adams Morgan is peaceful during the weekdays but jumping at night and on the weekends, filled with bar-hoppers. Full of wonderful ethnic restaurants, you can find whatever you're craving, from Ethiopian, and Indian to French and Mediterranean. A laid back artsy neighborhood that's great for culture and the bar scene.

Accessible on the Metro's Red Line (Woodley Park-Adams Morgan), but to get to the action you have to walk about a half-mile across the Duke Ellington Bridge.

City Data is another great resource for quickly getting detailed profiles of neighborhoods, with everything from cost of living index to notable attractions. Its best feature, however, may be the local forums, where you're sure to find answers to common questions about a neighborhood, including which neighborhoods are safest and what the highway traffic is like. You can also just ask there: "I'm traveling to X, where's the best neighborhood to stay in?"

Find Interesting Things to Do and Places to Go Wherever You Are

Make sure enough stores and restaurants are in reach

A big part of a neighborhood's attraction, whether you're traveling or moving, is the quality and number of things to do in the area. You can make sure there are enough restaurants, stores, and other necessary places easy to get to in your target neighborhood at previously highlightedWalk Score. The site assigns neighborhoods a "walkability score" based on whether you need a car to accomplish daily errands or if there are lots of amenities nearby (and you can search for highly walkable neighborhoods based on what you want nearby too).

Find the best local grub, events, and more

Yelp and/or Citysearch for all kinds of local recommendations, including restaurants and shopping

Get More Detailed Neighborhood Info to Find Out If a Neighborhood Is Worth Moving To

When looking for a place to move to, you'll need even more research. Consider your "must have" needs in a neighborhood, such as easy access to public transportation if you don't drive or great schools and parks nearby if you're a parent or will one day be one.

Also consider what you don't want. If you work from home and too much daytime noise will affect you, for example, don't move too close to a high-traffic venue or commercial area (I live across the street from a grade school, and while the morning drop-off is a breeze, hearing the ice cream truck's jingle go on and on drives me a bit mad).

Obviously, with a bigger investment in a neighborhood, you'll want to visit it in person if possible, both during the day and at night, checking out transportation, neighborhood stores, and just geting a gut feeling for the place (your snap decision about whether an area is safe or not is likely to be right).

A large part of a successful move is finding a good neighborhood. MSN has a good article that helps …
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If you have to visit virtually, enlist the help of Google Maps to see what's in the area and take a virtual tour.

Finally, get in-depth data on a neighborhood with Neighborhood Scout. The site offers detailed descriptions and information like median house value, types of real estate, school ratings, and demographics of your potential neighbors. A premium subscription is required to access neighborhood crime rates and home appreciation rates. (You can find neighborhood crime rates at CrimeReports and locate registered sex offenders near an area with Family Watchdog.) City-wide data is available for all these details elsewhere, but Neighborhood Scout drills down to specific zip codes.

Good luck on your neighborhood detective work.

Love,
Lifehacker

P.S. This isn't an all-encompassing list of tools, so if you know of other ways to get the lowdown on a neighborhood and its establishments, post them for all to see in the comments.